BASEBALL TALKS MOVE INTO 11TH HOUR

JACK O'CONNELL; Courant Staff WriterTHE HARTFORD COURANT

Although the Major League Players Association set no specific time in its pledge to strike today if there is no agreement on a collective bargaining agreement with the owners, the clock was ticking Thursday night as both sides hoped to avoid baseball's ninth work stoppage in the past 30 years.

Representatives of management and the union seemed prepared to work through the night toward an agreement. The first game affected by a walkout could be today's only afternoon game, a 3:20 p.m. meeting between the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs at Chicago's Wrigley Field. Fourteen games are scheduled for tonight.

Lawyers for both sides met four times Thursday. The players association set up a conference call with its executive board members for 11 p.m. Thursday.

Major League Baseball President Bob DuPuy and Rob Manfred, executive vice president for labor relations, represented management in the bargaining sessions. The union was represented by lawyers Michael Weiner and Steve Fehr. Commissioner Bud Selig and players association Executive Director Don Fehr were consulted throughout the day.

Also sitting on the sidelines was President Bush, the former owner of the Texas Rangers. Deputy Press Secretary Scott McClellan said the White House would not get involved.

"This is something the players and the owners need to resolve," McClellan said after talking with Bush.

McClellan, making reference to Sept. 11, added, "The owners and players need to keep in mind not only what a strike would do to the future of baseball, but also what it would to America during a time of national unity and national spirit."

Others in Washington chose not to be so neutral. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., asked Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., to schedule hearings on revoking baseball's antitrust exemption in the event of a strike.

"If baseball is determined to kill the goose that lays the golden egg, Congress should send a clear message to the owners and players for a plague on both your houses," Specter wrote to Leahy.

Meanwhile, players wondered whether they would be on the field today.

Rangers shortstop Alex Rodriguez, baseball's highest-paid player, said: "It doesn't sound real good from what I've heard in the last few hours."

The crunch issues of revenue sharing and a luxury tax on big-spending franchises were the stalling points.

Selig, upset in recent years by the domination of the Yankees and other wealthy teams, wants to increase the amount of locally generated revenue that teams share from 20 percent to 36 percent. Players have proposed 33.3 percent and want to phase in the increase.

To slow salaries, owners have asked for a luxury tax that would penalize high-spending teams. The sides got closer Thursday, with owners increasing the proposed threshold for the tax to $112 million, an increase of $5 million, a player representative said, and the union lowering its threshold an equal amount to $120 million.

The issue of eliminating two teams also has come up, but the union remains opposed and is awaiting an arbitrator's decision on its grievance against eliminating teams without the players' approval.

Manfred confirmed that the sides had reached agreement on a drug-testing policy for anabolic steroids and that testing for such drugs as marijuana and cocaine would be done on a "for cause" basis. Testing for steroids will be on a survey basis at first. If those tests reveal that less than 5 percent of the players use steroids, survey testing will be maintained. If in any year more than 5 percent of players test positive for steroids, random testing will commence over a two-year period. Random testing would cease if less than 2.5 percent of players test positive.

The policy would go into effect when a new collective bargaining agreement is reached.

"We are going to keep working," DuPuy said. "I've been prepared to stay for the night all week. Of course, there is an increase in sense of urgency. No one wants to lose a single game or a single day of games."